


Julie and the Phantoms at Pride 2020

by Fix



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexual Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Bisexual Julie Molina, Gen, biromantic asexual willie (julie and the phantoms), but ao3 had those so i clicked them, heteromantic asexual luke patterson, pansexual flynn (Julie and the Phantoms), pansexual reggie peters, that is to say the year is '2020' but there's no pandemic, this takes place in the same 2020 as the show, wasnt aware that reggie and alex had last names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:48:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28447164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fix/pseuds/Fix
Summary: Flynn has managed to book Julie and the Phantoms for a pride parade! In the preparations, Luke and Reggie learn some new words, and hugs abound.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 93





	Julie and the Phantoms at Pride 2020

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my friend MJ for sensitivity reading/advice!

“Who’s ready to rock this?!” Flynn asked as she flung open the studio doors to make a dramatic entrance. She had rainbow patterned ribbons in her braids and a large box in her hand.

Julie ran up to hug her. “I still can’t believe you actually managed to get us booked at a pride parade!”

Flynn returned Julie’s hug. “I know, right,” she said. “I’m totally the best marketing team slash ex-roadie turned electronic instrumentalist.”

Luke and Alex chuckled. “Totally!” Reggie chimed in. Flynn smiled back at him.

Ever since… whatever it was that had happened after Julie got back to the studio from the Orpheum, Alex, Reggie, and Luke had become less transparent. After a second and third round of group hugs celebrating the disappearance of their stamps, Julie had immediately called Flynn to see if the new golden glow around the guys had meant anything.

Flynn had screamed in excitement when she got to the studio the next day and could see the boys even though they weren’t even playing with Julie. In fact, when Flynn had arrived Alex had been sitting on the couch trying to balance his sticks on his face. At Flynn’s shout he had jumped up so suddenly that his sticks had gone flying and hit Reggie in the mouth.

They’d tried an even bigger group hug with Flynn, but realized when her hand went through Alex that they were still not tangible to anyone other than Julie. Or so they’d thought.

With Flynn’s confirmation that the boys had become visible to lifers, Luke had considered going back to his parents house, but actually talking to them this time. He’d spent three days debating it, swinging between beating himself up about how he was 25 years too late and they probably didn’t want to see him and noting that they wouldn’t throw him a birthday party if they didn’t miss him. Julie, Alex, and Reggie had managed to assure him that his parents would be overjoyed to see him, and Luke had finally rung their doorbell again. After a tearful reunion and lots of hugs, the band explained everything to them, and they were so overjoyed to have their son back, even as a ghost, that they tried to spend every minute he wasn't in rehearsal together. 

With the boys always visible, there was no need for a hologram machine roadie. So, Julie, not wanting Flynn to ever have to miss a show, convinced the guys to consider letting Flynn join the band. After three minutes of hearing what Flynn could do with a mix pad, they were sold. Hence, electronic instrumentalist and honorary phantom Flynn!

During their first rehearsal as the five person Julie and the Phantoms, they had learned the hard way that apparently when they played with Julie, the boys could now be felt by lifers. Reggie’s leg still hurt from when he’d accidentally run it into Flynn’s arm, trying to do a cool jump through her.

Julie went back to her mic and Flynn started walking to the table and put the box she was holding down onto it.

“Hey!” Willie said, turning to Alex. Julie and Flynn didn’t react since Willie still couldn’t be seen by lifers without Caleb, but Luke and Reggie turned to face him too. “Maybe since Julie’s friend gets to join the band I could too?” he said, waggling his eyebrows at Alex. “I’d make an excellent backup dancer.”

Alex blushed and looked at the ground.

“He was pretty good when we saw him dance at the HGC,” Luke pointed out. Willie pointed to Luke in agreement.

“Who are you guys talking to?” Julie asked. Flynn was making a confused face too.

“Oh,” Reggie said. “Willie’s here. Alex’s bo-” he was cut off by Alex elbowing him sharply in the stomach. Reggie coughed and curled over.

Now Willie was blushing and looking down at the floor, while Alex was floundering a bit at Julie’s raised eyebrow. “W-Willie, uhh,” he said, “is my ghost friend. He, uh. Well, I told him he could come watch us play at the parade if he wanted. He was just asking if he could dance on the float.”

Willie nodded emphatically from next to Alex, even though he knew the two girls couldn’t see him.

“Oh,” Julie said, turning to look at Flynn. Flynn nodded her head and Julie turned back to Alex. “Sure,” Julie said.

“But,” Flynn added, “we should see if anything happens when he dances while Julie is playing. We might need to bring the hologram machine back into play.”

“That’s true,” Luke said nodding.

“Well, Flynn’s here now,” Julie pointed out. “We could do one more run-through of the parade performance and see if anything happens?”

“Aw, yes!” Willie pumped his first in the air and drew Alex in for a one-handed hug.

“Hold on hold on!” Julie shouted suddenly.

Alex and Willie paused in their hug, right hands clasped and left hands awkwardly dangling in the air. The four ghosts turned to look at Julie. Julie turned to Flynn. “Can you see him?”

Flynn was already staring wide-eyed at Willie. “Yep,” she said. “Long black hair? Helmet?”

Willie and Alex looked at each other in confusion. Willie dropped Alex’s hand and went over to the table. “Wait you can see me?” he said to Flynn.

“Aaaand now he’s gone,” Flynn said.

Willie waved his hand back and forth in front of her face. No reaction. He turned back to the boys. They all made an ‘I don’t know’ face at him. He turned back to Flynn.

Then, turning around with an inspired smile, he walked back over to Alex. He smiled at him. “Hey.”

“Hi,” Alex said with a small smile.

Willie brought his arm up and clasped it onto Alex’s shoulder.

“He’s back again!” Julie shouted, this time walking over to where Willie and Alex were standing by the drums.

“Oh, I know!” Flynn said, also now clearly looking at Willie. “It must be that whenever he is making physical contact with one of you guys, we can see him! You must have weird ghost powers or something. I wonder if that means he’s also tangible while Julie’s playing?”

“Let’s try it out,” Luke said.

Julie walked back over to the keyboard and started singing the part of Stand Tall right before the drums come in. Alex sat down and started playing. Making an unsure face, Willie put one hand on Alex’s head and held the other one out toward Flynn.

She tried to high five him and her hand flew right through his. Julie and Alex stopped playing.

“Interesting. You’re still visible but it seems like Julie playing has no effect on you,” Flynn said.

“Hmm. Ok. Then I guess you could either come and spend the whole time making contact with at least one of the guys, come and spend the whole time making sure to never get near enough to touch any of the guys, or just not come,” Julie said. “It’s up to you, but I guess that doesn’t really leave dancing as an option, sorry.”

“Nah, it’s ok,” Willie said. His hand was still on Alex’s head so the girls could see him. “I was mostly joking about the dancing. Though they can attest,” he said, using his free hand to point to the guys “I am a very good dancer.” He gave a mini-bow. Julie and Flynn laughed.

“I mostly thought it would just be cool to be on one of the legit floats.” He looked at Alex. Then, moving his hand from Alex’s head back to his shoulder in a ‘bro-clap’ he looked between Julie and Flynn. “I’ve been in the audience a few times when I was, you know, alive. And I skated through the floats last year, but that’s not the same.”

Julie smiled at him. “Well then, we’d love to have you up there with us. Right guys?”

Flynn, Luke, and Reggie nodded their agreement.

“You could sit on my bench with me,” Alex said, looking up at Willie. “Everyone else kinda moves around a lot, so it would be hard to be in constant contact. Er, unless you wanted to be in constant not-contact. That’s also cool.” 

Willie smiled. He stepped over the bench then sat down so that he and Alex were on opposite ends of the bench, with their shoes touching underneath. “Does this work?” he asked, turning to Julie and Flynn.

Flynn gave him a thumbs up and Julie smiled.

“Alright!” Flynn clapped her hands. “Julie and the Phantoms and one more! Let’s run through one more time, then we can paint our faces and go?”

Everyone nodded and went to go pick up their instruments.

~~~~~

The last instrumental chord of the piece still hung in the air, Julie singing the last note. She finished and looked around to her bandmates and Willie.

“I’d say you guys are totally ready to rock this!” Willie said, punching Alex in the shoulder.

“Hell yeah!” Luke added while Flynn and Reggie gave little fake bows to Willie and Alex rubbed his shoulder where Willie had punched him with a small smile.

“Face paint time!” Flynn said. She walked over to the box she had brought in with her. She pulled it open and three tiers of highly pigmented face paint popped out.

“I put the brushes and the water back here,” Julie said, retrieving them from the shelf of plants behind the grand piano.

Julie held out the brushes and Flynn took one. She started dipping it in the water then paused suddenly. “I wonder if the paint will stay on them even if I apply it while you’re not playing? Or would the brush just go straight through them?”

“Oh, it will stay,” Willie said from the bench where he and Alex were still sitting. “Things that aren’t and never have been alive, like couches and floors and paintbrushes for example, well, it’s kind of like they don’t know the difference between life and death? I mean, unless they’re one of the objects connected to our soul. In which case they’re, like, dead.”

Flynn and Julie were gaping at Willie.

“Oh yeah, he’s a ghost expert,” Alex said, nodding to Willie.

Willie smiled at Alex then continued “So the paint brushes will interact with us the same way they’ll interact with lifers, as long as we’re not trying to manipulate them. It’s why ghosts need to learn how to, say, push a bench, but don’t need any training to just sit on one.”

Flynn and Julie looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders, and nodded to Willie. “Ok,” Flynn said. She sat down on the couch and started running the brush over a bright pink square on the top tier of the box. “I’ll start with me and Julie since I already know our flags, then you guys can tell me what colors you want.”

Julie got a mirror from the shelf that she’d had the water and brushes on then sat on the other side of the couch and held the mirror up to Flynn. Flynn painted two stripes of pink across her face, one on each cheek, then put the brush down on the table. She picked up another one and wet it before repeating the process, this time using a vibrant yellow color and painting underneath the pink. She did the same thing with a colorful blue, but then instead of putting the brush down on the table she motioned for Julie to come closer and started painting the blue in two lines across Julie’s face, this time starting closer to the bottom of each cheek.

While Flynn had been painting herself, Reggie had whispered to Luke “What is she doing?”

Luke whispered back “Julie said they’re gonna paint pride flags on our faces. For the parade. So like, you know, Alex’s would be rainbow.” Reggie nodded emphatically with that face that said he was still very confused.

Flynn got another brush and painted on top of Julie’s blue lines with purple, then picked up the brush she had started with and painted pink stripes on top of those. “Done!” she said, holding the mirror up for Julie to see.

“Oh, hey me too!” Willie said, standing up. Except, in his excitement he had accidentally moved his foot away from Alex, so all the girls heard was “Oh hey m-”

“What did he say?” Flynn asked. Julie was making a suspicious face.

“He said me too,” Alex said. Flynn and Julie both smiled and relaxed their posture.

“Oh right sorry, forgot.” Willie held out his hand to Alex, clearly inviting him to take it. Alex looked up at Willie, unsure. Willie gave him a small smile and at that Alex took his hand and stood up too. Willie brought him over toward the couch. “I’m bi too can I go next?”

“Sure!” Julie said, standing up so that Willie and Alex could take her place on the couch.

“But um,” Willie said as he sat down and faced Flynn. “I’m also ace, so maybe one flag on each cheek?”

Flynn nodded emphatically. “That’s a great idea.” She put the pink brush down and picked up the purple one again.

“What’s ace?” Luke asked.

“What’s happening?” Reggie followed.

“Uhm, well,” Julie said, doing a spin to look at them both and then ending with making a Face at Flynn. They had a silent conversation with their eyes and faces.

“Well,” Willie turned to face Luke while it was clear that Flynn wasn’t gonna be painting his face for a bit. “Ace is short for asexual. Basically it means I don’t feel any sexual attraction.”

Luke made a confused face. Willie continued. “So like. Well, there’s a difference between action and attraction. So like, a lot of people hear ‘asexual’ and think ‘celibate’, but that’s not true. Just because someone chooses to not have sex doesn’t mean they’re asexual.” What he was saying sounded a bit recited, like he’d had to go through it so many times that he had an order of topics planned but not necessarily so many times that he’d had to come up with a strict script.

“Asexual is like, how a straight guy wouldn’t experience sexual attraction to a guy, and a gay guy wouldn’t experience sexual attraction to a girl, but like, for everyone. But some asexual people, like me, still feel romantic attraction. So for example I don’t feel sexual attraction but I still feel romantic attraction to people.”

Luke was making a blank face. Willie looked between him and Reggie and gave an awkward smile. He looked back at Alex, who squeezed his hand. “That’s a thing?” Luke said.

Willie turned back to him and smiled. “Yeah.”

Luke nodded nonchalantly and looked off into space.

Flynn and Julie appeared to have finished their silent conversation. No one else really knew what they were ‘saying’, but whatever it was it seemed to be an argument, and Flynn seemed to have won.

“Reggieeee” Julie said as she spun back around to face him, looking a bit pained. “We’re painting pride flags.”

Flynn motioned for Willie to face her again and brought the purple brush to his face while Julie continued. “I’m bi, so Flynn painted my face with bi flags, and Willie is bi and ace so Flynn’s gonna paint his face with one bi flag and one ace flag. One on each side. Flynn is pan so the flags on her face are pan flags.”

“Pride flags?” Reggie asked, clearly still not getting it. Julie sighed. Her face went from the slight grimace to a genuine, fond smile at Reggie.

“Pride flags,” Julie said. “Pride being sexuality – er, there’s gender pride too but Flynn and I are both cis – and each has its own flag.”

Alex cut in as Flynn put down the purple brush and picked the blue one up again, “For example, since I’m gay, Flynn will paint a rainbow on my face when she gets to me. You know, how rainbow flags are like gay pride?”

Julie nodded “yeah, and rainbows can also be used as like an umbrella symbol, which is why Flynn put rainbows in her hair even though she’s pan.” Flynn nodded in agreement from the couch. “Then the flag that’s pan specifically is pink, yellow, blue, like you see on Flynn’s face,” Julie continued.

“Oh,” Reggie said, understanding starting to dawn in his eyes a bit even though he was still clearly confused. “Ok,” he nodded.

“So…” Luke said, “what’s pan?”

“What’s bi?” Reggie asked.

“Pan means you can be attracted to someone regardless of gender,” Flynn piped up from the couch while she was painting a white stripe across Willie’s cheek.

“And bi is attraction to two or more genders,” Julie continued.

“So pan is a type of bi?” Reggie asked.

“Well, it depends on who you ask,” Flynn said as she put one brush down and picked up another. “Labels can be really personal, each person sort of has their own definition that they feel is right. And everyone’s definitions might not always agree, especially since visibility and representation are nowhere near where they should be,” she said with a small huff of annoyance. “I’m attracted to all genders, so I identify as pan.”

“Yeah,” Julie added on. “Some people identify as bi if they’re attracted to multiple genders but not all genders. For me, personally, I identify as bi instead of pan because even though I could be attracted to someone of any gender, the person’s gender does still affect the way I’m attracted to them. Like, I’m attracted to different genders differently.”

“Like how Willie is romantically attracted to people but not sexually attracted to them?” Luke asked.

“No,” Julie said. “Gah. Maybe I’m not explaining this well.”

“Can I give it a go?” Willie said, trying to move his face as little as possible.

“Sure,” Julie said at the same time that Flynn said “wait.”

“I’m almost… done,” Flynn said, putting down the brush in her hand. “Ok, now you can give it a go.” She motioned for him and Alex to switch places on the couch.

Willie smiled at her and stepped around to the other side of Alex before sitting back down. Flynn confirmed that Alex wanted two rainbows. Once Alex and Willie sat back down, Willie turned around on the couch so that he was facing Luke and Reggie but still holding Alex’s hand, so the lifers could hear him too. “It’s kinda like how…” he paused. “Flowers are pretty right? 

Reggie nodded. Willie continued. “Like daisies and roses look totally different but they’re both pretty.”

“Oh, yeah!” Reggie said, starting to grin broadly now.

“So being ace is like not liking flowers, and if I’m understanding Julie right, she’s saying she experiences bisexuality like, liking daisies and roses and daffodils and tulips and all that but thinking they’re all pretty in different ways from each other, right?” Willie said, looking to Julie for confirmation.

Julie was smiling. “Yeah! That’s actually a pretty great example. And like Flynn was saying earlier, it’s a pretty personal thing. So someone else might define it differently or have the same feelings but label them differently.”

“Hmmm. Ok,” Reggie said. He was nodding as he watched Flynn paint.

The room lapsed into companionable silence until Flynn announced that she was done with Alex’s face paint.

“Who’s next?” Flynn asked. She was brandishing the red paint brush dramatically with a huge smile on her face. Alex turned around to show Willie his face. Willie nodded his approval as they got up from the couch so someone else could sit.

Luke and Reggie both hummed in thought, not looking at anyone.

Flynn looked between everyone, slowly lowering her paintbrush. When no one had spoken after a few moments she said “I can do the straight flag, too. That’s a thing. Or you could go without any face paint at all if you want.”

“Yeah, coming out is a personal thing,” Julie said. “Especially on a scale like this, where we’ll be televised and in front of a whole parade. You guys don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”

Willie and Alex nodded their agreement. “And it’s ok to not know, too! Sometimes you have to try things out a bit before you figure out what fits,” Willie added.

Alex nodded in agreement again.

Reggie hummed. “I think I want to try Flynn’s then!” he said.

“Really?” Luke and Alex turned to him.

“How come you never told us?” Alex asked, trying not to sound hurt or judgmental. 

“I didn’t know that was an option! I like girls! But, I don’t know, maybe that doesn’t matter as much as I thought. I didn’t know that, like, was a thing different from how everyone else was!”

There was silence for a few beats then: “And I think I might be like Willie,” Luke added in. “Asexual, I mean. I’m still only into girls though.”

“Alright!” Willie held his hand up to Luke. Luke smiled then slapped his hand for a high five.

Luke turned to Reggie. “I’m sorry if I like… lead you on or anything. With the singing chemistry stuff.”

Regie swatted his hand. “Don’t worry about it. It’s kind of like… I’ve always known that daisies are pretty, but I never really stopped to look at the roses before, because I didn’t know that people who like daisies could also like roses. But now I do and I’m like, ‘wow! Roses are pretty too!’ you know?”

Everyone nodded. “That actually made sense,” Luke said.

“A first for Reg,” Alex joked with a smile.

“And it’s like Luke is just like... not a pretty rose to me. No offense. But maybe to Julie!”

“Hey!” Julie protested. Luke stuck his tongue out at Reggie. Reggie made a face back. 

“That was very well-put, Reggie,” Willie said. “I’m happy to know my metaphor was so versatile.”

Reggie smiled at him.

Flynn put the brush on the table. “Group hug?” she proposed.

“Group hug!” Alex agreed. He pulled Willie and Reggie into a hug, since they were within reach, then everyone else joined on.

~~~~~

At the point where the “Julie and the Phantoms” float was supposed to start, everyone piled out of the car Luke’s parents had rented to drive them in the parade. Since they knew about ghosts, Julie had thought it would be better for them to drive instead of her dad, whom she was just telling that she broke the hologram machine and cured an extreme stage fright the guys had. 

They finished setting up with six minutes to spare before the parade began. Luke’s parents went back into the car. Alex and Willie went with them then clasped hands in the car before coming back out, so that all the lifers could see Willie now.

“I can’t believe your whole band is LGBT,” Flynn was saying to Julie as Alex and Willie stepped back onto the float.

“I know, right?” Willie said “Awesome!” he pumped his fist into the air.

Julie laughed.

“Alright,” Julie said. “Everyone to their instruments!” Luke and Reggie picked up their guitars. Willie and Alex walked over to the bench behind the drums and sat down carefully. Willie put his foot against Alex’s free foot and scooted over on the bench so that Alex would have full range of motion for playing. Flynn and Julie went to stand behind their instruments.

The float in front of them pulled away and Luke’s parents started driving. Julie gave everyone a few minutes to get used to the slow movement before starting the count-in. “Five! Four! Three, two, one!”


End file.
